Gloc 9's "Matrikula"

His major label debut ôDiplomaö earned him more respect of the critics and fellow artists with his un-shallow rap lyrics and depiction of lifeÆs realities through his songs. Now, Gloc9 returns with another masterpiece via ôMatrikulaö under Sony Music.
The album talks about many of todayÆs issues, political, social or otherwise û and how they affect our daily lives and the sacrifices that go with it. Matrikula not in itÆs literal sense but about the sufferings afflicted in our everyday lives, ômatrikula ng buhayö as Gloc 9 puts it.

Aside from being a rapper, Gloc9 or Aristole Pollisco in real life is currently a senior nursing student. His exposure on duties in various hospitals, mostly in depressed areas, inspired him with most of the albumÆs materials.

ôI wrote most of the songs in this album while on hospital duty and there is nothing like the drama that you see there, especially on E.R,ö he said. ôMatrikulaö delves deeper into the harsh realities and add to that his personal insights in life, what he see around him and the hardships of other people.

The album boasts of collaborations with top-notch artists like SandwichÆs Raymund Marasigan (Pangarap), Cookie Chua of Color It Red (Tao), Noel Cabangon (Bayad Ko), Gabby Alipe of Urbandub (Balita), Dex Yu of Letter Day Story (Martilyo) and Jeazell Grutas of Zelle who lent her voice to the albumÆs carrier single ôUpuan.ö

ôIt is always an honor and I will always be grateful for the talent that they shared with me in this album,ö Gloc9 beamed.

Though he considers the song ôLandoö (with the late master rapper Francis M) his favorite track from his previous album ôDiploma,ö he believes all the tracks in this new record produced by Jonathan Ong are on the same level as that hit single.

For the lead single ôUpuan,ö Gloc9 used simple words for the hook but delivers a very strong message and when coupled by Jeazell GrutasÆ haunting vocals, the song became an instant anthem.

He sampled the Asin track ôBalitaö and added his rap to the chorus. ôI really wanted to record this song way back but I just needed to come up with the right lyrics. Luckily I did and IÆm very happy that Gabby Alipe of Urbandub agreed to sing the chorus which was cool!ö Gloc9 said.

He did the same with SampaguitaÆs ôTaoö with Color It Red vocalist Cookie Chua capturing the spirit of the song. Gloc9 describes ôPangarapö as ôa summary of my life and what I think of all these things that surround me as an artist.ö Sandwich frontman Raymund Marasigan helped him make this track to fruition. This can also be said with ôMartilyoö which is ôabout not stopping and doing all that you can for you to reach your dreams.ö

What also made special about this album is ôKaibigan Koö which he did with Francis MÆs former band Hardware Syndrome with Itoy and Willie of Spindicate Posse.
ôSir Joey De Leon handed me a poem that he wrote for Sir Francis and he told me that I could use it and turn it into a song. I was very honored and I thought that recording the song with the help of close friends of Sir Kiko is a perfect way for me to honor Him,ö Gloc9 stated.

ôMatrikulaö is now out in CDs under Sony Music. Catch Gloc9 on MYX for the whole month of July as he is chosen as the music channelÆs Celebrity VJ. Watch him on the following shows: July 5-11 on Pop MYX, July 12-18 on Pinoy MYX, July 19-25 on Backtrax and July 27-31 on Urban MYX.